Prime minister Sheikh Hasina chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at Bangladesh Secretariat in the city on Monday.
The cabinet on Monday approved the draft of ‘The accreditation council bill, 2016’, aiming to ensure the quality of tertiary education, particularly the university one, in Bangladesh.
The approval was given at the regular weekly meeting of the cabinet held at Bangladesh secretariat with prime minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, cabinet secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said a 13-member council, as per the draft law, will be constituted headed by a Chairman along with 4 fulltime and 8 part-time members which will work for ensuring the quality of higher education.
Among the eight part-time members, Shafiul said, one would be nominated by the University Grants Commission, one by the government having the status of joint secretary, president of the association of the private universities in Bangladesh or a representative of the association, an expert of a recongnised foreign accreditation agency and a representative of a related professional organization to be nominated by the government.
Besides, an FBCCI entrepreneur, an educationist expert in education administration and an ICT expert nominated by the government would also be the part-time members of the council, he added.
About the qualification of the chairman and members, the cabinet secretary said they must have 25 years of experience in teaching in public universities along with minimum 10 years of teaching experience as professors.
The cabinet secretary added that the council will also work to earn international recognition on accreditation through inter-state level discussions and mutual discussions with international organisations.
It will also arrange seminars, symposiums and necessary training, development and campaign programmes on accreditation.
The cabinet secretary said the cabinet endorsed the ‘Bangladesh institute of nuclear agriculture research law, 2016’ aiming to make the organisation more dynamic and time-befitting one.
Under the new law, he said, there will be an advisory council and a board of directors in the BINA. The council will guide the board of directors through giving advice time to time and policy support.
The agriculture minister will be the head of this advisory council while the agriculture secretary will be its vice-president, he said.
The DG of BINA will act as the member secretary of this advisory council, the cabinet secretary said.
Alam said the cabinet also approved ‘The international centre for diarrhoeal disease research Bangladesh (icddr,b) law, 2016’ by merging the two previous acts and translating those in Bangla.
Regarding the centre’s goal, Alam said seven responsibilities, especially management and research of diarrhoea and such diseases, have been mentioned in the proposed law.
Under the proposed law, there will be a board comprising minimum and 12 members and maximum 17, he said.
Regarding the board activities, he said, the main work of the board would be supervise overall activities of the centre. He said the board could convene at least two meetings in a year, adding the centre could collect fund from home and abroad as well as international bodies and non-government organisations.
The cabinet secretary said the cabinet also endorsed a proposal for ratification of ‘The Treaty between the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Government of the Union of Myanmar on the Demarcation of the Land Section of the boundary north of the Naaf River.’
He said the draft of the proposed bilateral agreement on the productivity assistance development between Bangladesh and China was approved by the cabinet.
Source: New Age
